U.S. stocks rallied yesterday, with the major indexes ending 3% higher. Most foreign markets are up this morning, helped by yesterday’s momentum. U.S. stock index futures struggled to find direction this morning, but turned higher after the government said the level of jobless claims filed last week fell more than expected.
The Labor Department said the number of people filing for state unemployment benefits fell 21,000 to 454,000 last week, 6,000 fewer than expected. Meanwhile continuing claims fell to 224,000 week-over-week to 4.1 million, which is the lowest continuing claims count in almost eight months.
In other news, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank both kept their key lending rates unchanged, as expected. Separately, the International Monetary Fund raised its world growth estimate for the year to 4.6% from 4.2%.
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